Enfield Mayor: Petition On Guards Doesn't Comply With Charter

ENFIELD — The Enfield Civic Alliance, a residents group, has organized a petition drive attempting to force the town to hold a referendum on the controversial plan to put 10 armed security guards in the town's schools in the fall.

But Mayor Scott Kaupin said the group misunderstands the petition requirements in the town's charter and the effort is unlikely to affect any change.

John Foxx, spokesman for the group, said its goal is not to have the security guard proposal scrapped, but only to bring the issue to voters for approval.

The mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14 prompted towns across the state to evaluate school security. Enfield was one of the first to enact a policy placing armed security guards in every school after North Branford, which approved a similar plan shortly after the shootings.

The town council approved a memorandum of understanding with the school system for the $610,000 plan on March 25, and the board of education voted 5-4 in favor of the memorandum the following day. The approvals pre-empted a townwide meeting on school security that was held March 27, angering some who felt elected officials should have waited until residents could be heard.

"Several of us spoke at each of the security meetings and you know, we don't feel like we were really listened to," Foxx said. "They kind of went with what they wanted to do regardless of what the state was doing, regardless of how the people in town felt."

Foxx said that the goal is to get an injunction to stop the guards from being put in place until a townwide referendum can be held, and to revise the charter's petitioning provisions.

But Kaupin said the group's petition, which calls for the decision "to be brought to a vote by referendum," is fatally flawed.

The charter outlines a specific procedure for "power of initiative," or petitioning, and requires that "a petition has to propose an ordinance or other measure, and the definition of an ordinance or other measure would be a law, a policy, a regulation, something that's actionable on the town or on the operation of the town," Kaupin said.

Valid petitions must be signed by 10 percent of registered voters, which equals about 2,600 signatures, and submitted first to the town clerk, then to the town attorney for legal review, and finally the registrar of voters, who certifies the signatures. The issue is then brought to the town council, which has the authority to approve the requested ordinance. If the measure is voted down, only at that point would a townwide referendum be held, Kaupin said.

Foxx said the charter bars ordinance proposals that would cut funding or dismiss town workers, so the group has no choice but to call for a refrendum rather than an ordinance, and "we believe that we've set it up to be actionable."

But Kaupin said he's concerned the group's efforts will be rendered moot if the petition is not correct.

"Anyone can petition anything, but if you want to affect change through the charter and the power of initiative it has to be very specific," Kaupin said. "There's no action that the council can do with the petition ... they've been told that but they're still continuing to move forward collecting signatures."

Kaupin, who is also chairman of the independently run Enfield Fourth of July festivities that take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, said the group tried to purchase space at the community table section of the event, but was barred because they are not a registered nonprofit with a charitable mission.

The group will still have a presence at the event, however. Foxx said members will be stationed across the street from the Congregational church on Route 5 and at the Parent Leadership Academy's table to hand out information about the petition. The group will also be collecting signatures across the street from town hall during the July 4th parade on Saturday. Foxx said anyone interested in learning more should visit the Facebook group, "Enfield Armed Guard Petition."